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3 Dimensional Chat / z brush works, Q & A's, free models and tutorials

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Mazz426
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Posted: 1st Mar 2010 16:33 Edited at: 1st Mar 2010 16:35
hello all of you,

i am making this thread to showcase my z brush models of any sorts, answer questions and post tutorials in the future as well as post free character basses for you all.

i encourage you all to post anything you have made or plan to make in z brush, as well as ask questions or indead post your own tutorials.

C&C welcome, post your thoughts or your opinions on the things i post

laughing squid portfolio piece -



head sculpt 1 -



and attached is a free character base that i used for the laughing squid

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RUCCUS
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Posted: 1st Mar 2010 16:44
I dont know if you're calling the laughing squid done or not. If you are I think you should reconsider and work on the materials a lot more. He's a squid so he shouldn't look like plastic, there should be an effect of thin transparent layers of skin, maybe show the under-workings of his body (veins for example). He also shouldn't be one flat colour for the material, certain areas should be greener and more translucent, areas like where the eye sockets, cheeck flesh and nose bridge are.

You're using ZBrush, so you really have the opportunity to get in there and add those minute serface details that make the piece a lot better. Pores, wrinkles following the contours of the face, etc. Add more assymetry to his face, don't rely on the cigarette to do it.
Mazz426
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Posted: 1st Mar 2010 16:51 Edited at: 1st Mar 2010 16:54
RUCCUS@

thanks for the advice, the model does have a lot of surface detail and i agree with all you said, i haven't yet started the texture which as you say will have a translucent like effect under which you'll be able to see the muscles which'll have a greenish tint. thanks for the advice and quick comment

i'm also planning on adding some scars

heres an example of the surface detail, still needs some refinements however



RUCCUS
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Posted: 1st Mar 2010 17:31 Edited at: 1st Mar 2010 17:33
I would say there is still a lot more room for surface detail in there. It seems you sculpted most of the detail on one level of subdivision, and then went up to the next level without refining the detail, causing it all to blend out a bit too much.

In the end its your design, there really isnt a laughign squid in real life to base it off of, but in terms of believability and what is normal to see on a human, there should be certain areas where these wrinkles and skin deformations are much more pronounced, especially where there are joints or folds in the skin.

I like what you're doing with the rib cage, making it look like it is pushing the skin out in the chest where there would typically be abs (unless those are abs, I dont know for sure), but again I think this could be a little more pronounced. The thing with character design is the more you can punch out the character's major features, while maintaining a balance of not having too many features, the more interesting your character will be. Take the lara croft character for example. She isnt too complicated, she has some hiking gear on, two guns, and a pony tail. But the designers made her legs much longer than that of any real woman in comparison to the rest of her body, they punched out her breasts, and they emphasized her pony tail. She only has a few unique features, but they're memorable.

If you can find a few unique features in this character and exagerate them, you'll have a more appealing design.

Interestingly enough we learn to do the same thing when animating at my college. Its a concept where you over-exagerate key movements to make them more impactful. For example if a wizard was casting a spell andneeded to swoop his hand back and forth, you would "break the joints" (key animation term) of the wizard's knuckles, only for a split second, and cause the fingers to bend past what they normally could in real life. Its un-noticable when played back that this break happens, but it causes the overal movement to be a lot more impactful.

Hopefully you understand what I mean.
Mazz426
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Posted: 1st Mar 2010 19:34 Edited at: 1st Mar 2010 19:36
thanks for the further advice, heres some texture progress, i'll use it as a guid for the further surface detail, that warped appearance was acctually deliberate, a bit like a toned down version of elephant sking

also really glad you shared the exagerating aspects thing, i get what you mean and i'll certainly use your advice

C&C welcome

laughing squid tex WIP (1) -



Mazz426
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Posted: 1st Mar 2010 20:28
sorry for the double post, i just wanted to let you know that i've corrected the vest

laughing squid posed WIP (1) -



Mazz426
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2010 19:04 Edited at: 2nd Mar 2010 19:04
wow not a single comment...

well heres an update.

post some C&C



Quik
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2010 11:29
i would love to see a low poly verson of that one



[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Mazz426
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2010 18:11
Quik@

here you go my friend, its lowest poly it 740 polies (highest is 2.71 million ), i may enter it into the put me in game compo



mike5424
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Posted: 4th Mar 2010 18:09
Too high poly, It's 500 polys or 1000 tri's, Sorry

---
Mazz426
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Posted: 4th Mar 2010 19:51
yeah just checked, it wont be two difficult to lower it, i can easily delete a few loops and bring it down 200 - 300 polies

Mazz426
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Posted: 7th Mar 2010 11:27
heres a new model, its a monster style arm, C&C welcome, post whatever



Ortu
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Posted: 7th Mar 2010 11:54 Edited at: 7th Mar 2010 12:19
I'd think it would need arms and legs for the compo or at least an excuse not to have them, so be sure to figure that in to the tri count

aside from that, I feel like this isn't substantially different from most of the rest of your models. It's still fairly alien. I know that you have a style, but maybe try some environmental stuff or animal/nonhumanoid creature things.

You're very good at this, I just think it's a shame to type cast yourself as you seem to be doing. like if you give it legs, I automatically assume it will be the backwards hinged goat leg style that you favor and I feel there should be less predicatability than that. I've been drinking, I could be wrong, but...


lazerus
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Posted: 7th Mar 2010 12:03
Yeah the entries for the compettion need to be game import ready. so a no armed, legged squid isnt much help lol.

Alucard94
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Posted: 7th Mar 2010 12:05
Not sure if it's just the angle of the shots but I think you might need to check up on the anatomy of those arms a bit, it looks like the deltoid is extremely long, and both the bicep and tricep have size and placement issues, like it though! The forearm is pretty spot on as well.


Alucard94, lacking proper intelligence.
Mazz426
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Posted: 7th Mar 2010 12:32 Edited at: 7th Mar 2010 12:33
thanks for the comments

ortu@

i've acctually been working on some four legged animals, nothing too good to post yet but i will, i'm actually working the arm to the right side of the squid model

lazerus@

yeah i agree, been looking at it and have decided to nnot bother entering it

alucard@

i noticed this after i posted the image, i'll correct what you mentioned, thanks

Asteric
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Posted: 7th Mar 2010 13:37
Also the model itself is a bit lumpy, a subtle smooth may help.

Mazz426
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Posted: 7th Mar 2010 17:12
asteric@

thanks for the advice, i'd acttually wanted a lumpy look, but i'll try it with a subtle smooth

anyway heres a quick texture update, still WIP but i'm rather happy with it, post some feedback



Mazz426
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Posted: 8th Mar 2010 18:09 Edited at: 8th Mar 2010 18:14
heres an update, a quick combination of the squid and the arm, what do you think



also for anyone who uses zbrush, remember to keep yourself up to date, heres a link to a new plugin that allows you to UV map objects with one click of a button from within zbrush

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=082643

attached is an example of what it can produce

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Mazz426
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Posted: 11th Mar 2010 18:41 Edited at: 11th Mar 2010 18:41
really, not a single comment...

well heres an update on the squid character, its officially finished and i can finally move onto something new

comments appreciated, please post C&C
-



Isocadia
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Posted: 11th Mar 2010 18:47
Uh, I personnaly think it would be better if you also gave him a right arm and make it scratch its head or something instead of an amputated square, just my thought. But on the overall, your work is just awesome!!!

Isocadia

Mazz426
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Posted: 13th Mar 2010 19:43 Edited at: 13th Mar 2010 19:44
heres a start on a new creature, as previously i'm leaving it as a torso and head bust (for this one i'll eave the arm)
its based off of a bat, goat and some spawn images

C&C welcome-



Isocadia
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Posted: 17th Mar 2010 20:08
Mazz, where did you learn to texture like this in ZBrush? Because I downloaded the trial and everything seams nice and professional, but when trying to seriously work on a model I crash. First, I make a model in blender ( because I like to be able to grab poly's ) and so I got a mermaid. I imported into ZBrush and started detailing. But now I try to texture and when I simply paint ( select texture and turn off ZAdd ) they are blurred and look awfull. So could you link to the tutorial you used on how to texture ( because I like the way you textured smiling squid ) because as far as I can see in the ZClassroom there is no tutorial in how to texture.

Isocadia

PS: Sorry for my long post, its just that I don't know where to start....

Mazz426
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Posted: 17th Mar 2010 22:21 Edited at: 17th Mar 2010 22:23
isocadia@

texturing in zbrush for me is almost always used for organic texturing and base texturing, photoshop/ GIMP is key to additional details. if the texture when painted looks blocky, that is because zbrush works by applying one colour of something to one face so therefore to achive high detail textures you must reach problably the 850, 000 poly mark before you loose pixelation. however if you paint in a high poly subdivision, then you apply it as a texture and when you lower the subdiv it won't loose any detail. also don't paint in materials, try to keep it to colours on one subtool, however here is a link to the z classroom where there is a tutorial on how to bake matcaps to textures:
http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/

also heres an update on the previous creature, this was done a while back, just haven't been able to post it (sorry for the size if requested i will lower it)



Asteric
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Posted: 18th Mar 2010 01:07 Edited at: 18th Mar 2010 01:08
Looks nice, but i am seeing a very 'lazy' pattern in which not many of your sculpts actually make sense. I can see this especially in the heads, i often see random bits and pieces that have no anatomical sense at all.

You seem to have got into the habit of adding lots of lumps into the muscles too, including the face, it just makes the model a lot harder to read.

My crit would be to clean up the mesh, get rid of anything that is there without a purpose, and work on the lumpiness, you should see a vast improvement.

Sorry if that came of harsh, i just want to push these to their best.

SJHooks
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Posted: 18th Mar 2010 03:45
Erm, sorry for being such a newbie, and not being smart enough to just google the thing, but I thought it'd be best to ask someone who uses it: What exactly does zbrush do? Do you make hq high poly models, and then reduce the polies later, and bake a normal map from the high poly or what? If you don't want to answer, it's okay, I'd probably be willing to actually try to google it

Typos, can't live with em, but somehow I do
Ortu
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Posted: 18th Mar 2010 04:22
It's does many things, probably among the most common is sculpting in high poly organic details and texturizations to surfaces for baking.

just take a look around their site zbrush.com

they showcase their features pretty well.


Mazz426
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Posted: 18th Mar 2010 18:46 Edited at: 18th Mar 2010 18:47
asteric@

thanks for the honesty, i recently realised the "lumpiness" myself, i'm currently working on a character (that is proving incredibly iritating) however i thni i know what to do to get it to work i'll post the concepts next post along with, hopefully, some progress on the model

and uhh zbrush.com is not their official site, its pixologic.com...

Alucard94
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Posted: 18th Mar 2010 19:22
Zbrush.com redirects to Pixologic, so it's not like it matters.

Oh and mazz has cool as some of your sculpts look, you need to check up on some of the anatomy man, especially those arms you did earlier and some of your torsos, whilst not human should probably have similar muscular proportions to a human. Because otherwise it really just looks quite odd.


Alucard94, lacking proper intelligence.
Mazz426
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Posted: 19th Mar 2010 19:46
alucard@

i am working on my anatomical studies, they'll be posted later

anyway here is the forementioned creature, its a vampire bust WIP, so please undestand that this is not yet finished
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Asteric
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Posted: 19th Mar 2010 19:52
So that's like a Vampig or something?

Mazz426
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Posted: 19th Mar 2010 22:01
vampire bats have noses similar to what i've done, i origionally had a much more accurate (large, pointier) version however it looked obsured so i opted for a more pig like look

Quik
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Posted: 19th Mar 2010 23:26
the pig nose.... get rid of it. it looks awful tbh


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Aaagreen
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Posted: 19th Mar 2010 23:33
Looks like he could fit in Star Trek easily.

Also, the "squid" character looks like a Glukkon.



Jeku always gets drunk and tries to Moderate the ocean. Tirelessly slapping the waves as they roll in.
Mazz426
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Posted: 20th Mar 2010 12:03
aaagreen@

there is one hell of a resemblence, i don't watch star trek myself

quik@

the nose in that pic was a WIP, i'm gonna keep ot as i want to try and stay true to my concept, but thanks for the advice

Mazz426
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Posted: 20th Mar 2010 12:59
heres an update on the vampire bust
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Quik
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Posted: 20th Mar 2010 17:22
now the nose looks even more awful, in the new pic it looks very flat and uninteresting and just as piggy as it did before.

everything else looks pretty awesome tbh.


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
darimc
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Posted: 20th Mar 2010 17:44
@Quik, He said he was going for a vampire bat nose. So he made it perfectly.

Great job Mazz!

Mazz426
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Posted: 20th Mar 2010 17:53
darmic@

thanks, appreciate it

quik@

as i said it was WIP, i was working from sources after i uploaded the last image, the above nose was essentially a base for the following image

hope you all like it
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Mazz426
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Posted: 20th Mar 2010 22:15
heres a texture WIP, i'm not happy with the shirt at the moment, think i'll change the colours to red and black

this is also testing using one of my custom matcaps to add orange lighting, C&C welcome
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Mazz426
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Posted: 21st Mar 2010 16:25
heres another update, i've change the shirt, think this one works better
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Quik
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Posted: 21st Mar 2010 16:33
i dont think the new one fitts, the other one looked more vampire noble-ish, this one makes him look like a slave.


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Mazz426
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Posted: 21st Mar 2010 16:53
i was thnking of a cave creature, like golem, bats live in caves so that was my plan, i was 50/ 50 on whether or not i should add some armour, i think i will

lazerus
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Posted: 21st Mar 2010 22:16
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/3d__and__animation/body_work

This should help with any anatomy issues.

The reason i havent posted is, well i dont know my way round Zbrush yet but from what i did understand is that the detail you can get out of it is amazing. It just seems that your not hitting the right areas yet. Keep at it an itll get alot better. It also dosnt help that you only do busts try doing full bodied models.

Black Profductions
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2010 03:01
Great! it looks ugly, but in a good way, the model is awsome
Keep it up dude

Isocadia
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2010 17:16
Well, I got a new question for you: How do you make the base of you model? Do you use ZSphere's or do you first make a model in another program?

And next, I don't understand why everybody is picking at the nose. Do vampires always need to look humanoid? Or can they for once be more bat then human. Well you got my support xD. But I have to agree, the previous vest made him look more vampire like then now.

Isocadia

Quik
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2010 17:44
nonono, iam not implying that it has to look HUMAN, just implying that it looks... weird^^


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Mazz426
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2010 18:20
thanks guys

lazerus@

as i said i'm working on atomical pieces, just not anything ready to post, thanks for the link but i acctually have the book that contains the origional version of that tut

isocadia@

depends on the model, personally i prefer to make my bases outside of zbrush, however for more complicaded things i use z spheres then retopologise them

heres two examples, the first was made in blender and is used as a very rough and easy to use base, the second was reto'd from z spheres and made in zbrush, its for full figure modelling

also heres some progress on the vampire, i'm going for a more warrior feel rather than nobleman, i think that look has been done to death (again if someone wants it reduced, size wise then just ask)
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Hassan
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2010 18:25 Edited at: 22nd Mar 2010 18:25
nice shoulder thingie, but with that shirt, he look more like a tramp vampire than a warrior vampire

mike5424
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2010 19:00
Yea, The shirt doesn't look right. Search "Emo Clothes" in google for some references

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